Northland's MP wants Transpower to write the region a cheque after a pylon toppled north of Helensville, cutting power to much of the north. 

It's found contractor Omexom's team leader was distracted sandblasting as unsupervised inexperienced workers removed the bolts from three legs at once.  

Transpower says it can't compensate businesses but says residents can contact their retailer. 

Grant McCallum told Mike Hosking he's sat down with Transpower to discuss some kind of donation, but they were very far apart.  

He says about 10 times the figure they offered would be more relevant. 

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